Of Giants and Ice (Ever Afters, The)

Of Giants and Ice (Ever Afters, The) by Shelby Bach Page B

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Authors: Shelby Bach
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the witch dummy.
    “I hope you’re not planning to tell me that you weren’t actually going to practice with the dragon dummy, that you were simply trying to make a point,” Hansel said, glowering at me. “Because that’s not what the dummies are for.”
    I bit my tongue to stop myself from getting into more trouble.
    Chase grinned at me and headed off.
    Twenty minutes later, just as I started to feel like I couldn’t lift my arm even one more time, Ellie arrived and announced that itwas time for everyone in Eastern Standard Time zone to go home.
    Sighing, I watched a dozen students file in and out of the weapons closet.
    “Don’t feel bad. Hansel really does always pick on the new Characters,” Lena said, standing next to me. “I’ll help you straighten up. It’ll go fast.”
    “No, you won’t,” Hansel called from across the room, nodding pointedly at the doorway.
    “Thanks anyway, Lena,” I whispered.
    She reluctantly jogged outside under Hansel’s stern gaze. With one final scowl in my direction, Hansel stepped out too and closed the door after him.
    I headed for the closet. Every step echoed in the big empty room.
    Almost sure that I was the worst swordswoman that EAS had ever seen, I started on the messy piles of weapons.
    I turned one spear over and over in my hands, wondering if maybe I was training with the wrong weapon, but my arms were so weak that I kept losing control and knocking over the row of staffs I had just put away. I gave up, settling the spear back where I found it.
    Maybe I was just bad at everything.
    Then the torches snuffed out abruptly.
    I squinted, looking back at the open door, now the only source of light in the closet.
    “Hello?” I called uncertainly.
    No one and nothing answered, but metal clattered behind me. I winced, wondering what else I had knocked over.
    Then I heard the clanking sound again, this time behind the door, and peered closer into the shadows. I wasn’t alone. A largefigure rose to his feet in the back of the room. “No way,” I murmured and nervously stepped back.
    The figure lurched forward clumsily, hair standing in tufts on his hands and shoulders. The dim light reflected dully on his dark gray skin. It looked like metal.
    Iron Hans? Here? My mind flew to the story that afternoon, but I couldn’t believe that even Hansel would be mean enough to send a villain after a kid.
    One gray hand fell on a shelf of unused swords, clanking again like metal on metal, and in his other hand, he held the double-headed ax. It was as tall as I was. It could cut me in half with one chop.
    I froze, terrified. I knew I needed to run. I tried to move, but my body wouldn’t obey. My mind went blank.
    Iron Hans stumbled forward another step, raising the ax above his head.
    I squeezed my eyes shut, shoulders hunched forward, waiting for the blow to fall. From the back of my throat came a very small, very embarrassing squeak.
    Then someone laughed in a very familiar way. Two someones.
    I opened my eyes a crack. The torches burned again, and I saw Chase letting Adelaide down from his shoulders. They were both laughing so hard that he almost dropped her.
    I stared at them, filled with a completely different kind of horror. I would never live this down, not in a million years. Chase wouldn’t let me.
    Once Adelaide’s feet were on the ground, Chase straightened up with a clink. Both of them wore chain mail, their hands and faces covered with pewter paint. “I knew Yellowstone was a fluke,” Chase said, grinning. “You’re no braver than the rest of us.”
    “I never said I was,” I murmured. Adelaide carried a small hatchet, and I couldn’t understand how I thought I’d seen a double-headed ax.
    “A room full of weapons and she didn’t even reach for one,” Chase said gleefully, as if I hadn’t said anything, and my fists curled at my sides.
    “She didn’t even move .” Adelaide slid the hatchet back into a row of axes.
    “Not a Companion I would want on my

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